Special offer:Special offer extended: 2 years for the price of 1 until November 30 2007!

Dear Readers,

This November has been really busy, with some good results. Outpost Firewall Pro 2008 has once again proved its strength in leaktests, as demonstrated by the latest Matousec security study results. After the final release of the new Outpost Pro 2008 product line, our developers have been working hard to eliminate the remaining bugs and inconsistencies, with four bug fixes issued in the last couple of months, they are making great progress to improve everyone’s experience of the latest OFP and OSS products. We’ve started a new educational area on our website called Security Teacher, where product manager Igor Pankov provides tips and guidance on staying secure online. And finally, we are pleased to announce the winner of the Outpost story contest and an extension to our special two-for-one license offer!

As always, we appreciate your feedback, so please use our web mail form or blog to send us your comments and opinions!

Outpost Firewall Pro 2008 scores 100 % in Matousec leaktests!

We finally did it! The two years of development work that went into leak-proofing OFP have paid off and our flagship product Outpost Firewall Pro 2008 came out on top in the November 2nd Personal Firewall Analysis tests performed by Matousec Transparent Security (www.matousec.com). Outpost beat out more than 40 other personal firewalls and security suites, gaining the coveted 100 % efficiency rating in the leaktests with the maximum number of points (9625, 925 more than the last version tested).

Many of the techniques used in Matousec’s leaktests (specific programs that determine if a firewall’s outbound protection can be bypassed) are already in use by real-world malware: spyware, Trojans, keyloggers, worms and other cyber threats. So the leaktest score is now as important for a personal firewall or security suite as a crash-test is for a car: you never expect the circumstances to be tested, but it is better to have 100% certification than to cross your fingers.

Latest bug-fixes for OFP and OSS 2008 now available

Outpost Firewall Pro and Outpost Security Suite Pro 2008 continue to improve in tandem, with all of our development resources focused on solving the remaining outstanding issues. The engineers are working round the clock to ensure that all our customers get a fully-stabilized product as quickly as possible.

As a result of this objective, we’ve already issued four hot-fixes – on October 24, November 2, November 14 and November 16 – to both OFP and OSS 2008. The latest fix (November 16) solved a number of problems – you can find details about Outpost Security Suite Pro and Outpost Firewall Pro on our website.

Please go ahead and download the latest version of OSS or OFP and check out the improvements.

New Security Teacher portal

The new Security Teacher site builds on the Security Insight foundations that many of you have used and become accustomed to. The monthly newsletter has now expanded into a full-fledged portal for anyone interested in web security and looking to extend their knowledge. The idea of Security Teacher and its related newsletter, Security Teacher Digest, is to aggregate security articles from Igor Pankov (Product Marketing Manager, Agnitum) with new content, including a web glossary, security tip of the week, interviews with researchers and hackers, and useful security links. Security Insight is not disappearing – like the web and the cyberthreat environment, it’s evolving.

Whether you’re a security novice or an old hand, you’re sure to find something of interest at Security Teacher. Knowledge is power, and the more you know and understand about cyberthreats and staying alert online, the more protected you will be.

According to Igor: “Switching over to Security Teacher will be good news for everyone. The portal enables us to offer more different types of resources than was possible with a newsletter alone. As Security Teacher grows, I’ll be continually adding more and better content and expanding online discussion opportunities. I look forward to working with all of you to win the war against cybercrime!”

We encourage you to visit the brand-new Security Teacher, where you’ll find the first in-depth content – a discussion of “The Pluses and Minuses of 64-bit Vista Security”. This discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of 64-bit Vista security will be topical for many - what real value do 64-bit improvements bring to users of Vista-based computers? There’s plenty of material here to help you make the best choice.

The lucky winner of an 8Gb iPhone and lifetime OSS

Once again we’d like to thank everyone who participated in our Outpost Story contest – we really enjoyed all of your contributions. Some stories were funny, others were deadly serious, some were long and others short, some were written by native English speakers and others were not – and some were clearly trying to impress us in order to win the iPhone and lifetime OSS license! But the most important aspects for the judges were sincerity and a willingness to contribute to web security. The entry that, in the opinion of the judges, best met those criteria was written by Eric Hunt from the United States.

Here’s an extract from Eric’s story:

“I tended to consider myself safe from internet threats even before I purchased Outpost Firewall Pro after a recommendation from a friend.

Most people don't understand that just having a Virus Scanner isn't enough, and this is where Outpost has saved me several times.

I downloaded some nice-looking freeware image editing program from a website that I have never been to before. I had a virus scanner NOD 32 and a spyware scanner so I thought I was safe. After downloading and scanning it with both my virus scanner and spyware scanner I assumed the file was safe. Not true.

After installing and using the software for a short period, an unknown program started to attempt accessing the internet. Outpost immediately informed me of this and asked me what to do. I wrote down the information and blocked all access to the internet for the program. After some research on the internet I couldn't really find any information on it so I didn't think anymore of it, I thought it was just an odd program that came with the software, such as a program update and never thought about it again until the next day when my anti-virus finally warned me.

Outpost had found a new Trojan and protected me from it by not allowing it to access the internet to give the Trojan's controller access to my computer and private data”.

This really sums up the value of Outpost’s proactive security - no matter how good the anti-virus, sophisticated malware can still find a way into your system.

Congratulations, Eric, and many thanks to everyone who participated. You can read the top 10 stories on our website.

2 years for the price of 1 – Special Offer Extended until November 30 2007!

The offer is still available, but you’ll need to hurry! You still can get a 2-year license of either Outpost Firewall Pro 2008 or Outpost Security Suite Pro 2008 for the price of 1 year – $39.95 or $49.95 respectively! More details on our website. Where else can you find such great protection and two years support and updates for half-price?

In conclusion

Outpost Security Suite Pro 2008 and Outpost Firewall Pro 2008 for Windows Vista and XP are making great progress. The holiday season is coming, so we’re working hard to bring you the best possible gift – robust Internet security and data protection. We’ll keep you posted as we plan ahead for next year and even more improvements to the best leak protection available.